![]() ![]() Nadal pulled out of the tournament Friday with injuries, shortly after the issue had come off the presses.Ĭopyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Alongside are reader complaints (from online readers, anyway who knows what the print-only readers thought?)Īll in all, it was a not-fun week for the magazine, which had as its cover story a profile of tennis player Rafael Nadal, just as Wimbledon was getting under way. Then, later, an explanation from Shortz on the blog (scroll down to just beneath photo of Oscar Wilde). "The acrostic is still in the magazine, it’s just moved to a different page. I’m trying to track down more information but don’t worry, flip through the pages and you’ll find the Second Sunday puzzle. Sorry for the confusion. Put the word "acrostic" into the search tool, though, and you get a link to the Times's puzzle blog, "Wordplay." This provides a link to the acrostic, and an initially somewhat confused explanation from Wordplay editor Jim Horne: Click on "Sunday magazine." It's not there-just a link to "premium crosswords," which the Times charges for. Go to (assuming you are near a computer). Shortz said he doesn't know how to find the acrostic online, but we tried (the site may since have updated it). He says he has no idea how many acrostics and other variety puzzles will find their way into the print magazine in the future.Įditors at the magazine and a spokesperson for the Times couldn't immediately be reached. They then agreed to put them in the magazine if there were the ads to support it. They came to him and said that there was no room for the variety puzzles at all in the new downsized magazine and they would have to go online only. Shortz said his bosses had a more radical plan at first. The magazine has a "cleaner, more modern feel." And, he adds, "On the puzzles page you can now play KenKen." Words per page has "hardly been affected," he writes. Marzorati owns up to it being "regrettable," but then goes on to gamely argue that this won't interefere much with words and pictures. It's a familiar story-this is a cost-cutting move to save on newsprint. Sunday magazine Editor Gerald Marzaroti explained it to readers in the June 14 this way: "the magazine you are holding is 9 percent smaller-a little off the top, a little off the sides"" (This letter seems to be nowhere on the Web, but here's an article about the move.) Such shrinkage has afflicted all papers, including this one. So, yet another casualty of the newspaper meltdown, the death by a thousand cuts that all papers are enduring, shedding readers in tiny, persistent dollops by removing features readers had come to expect. The first letters of each answer spell out the author. This is one of those things that's perfect for the print medium-better than online." Acrostics call on solvers to answer clues and then transfer the letters to a grid that spells out a quotation. "This will be the tipping point for them. "Literally thousands of people buy it for these puzzles," Shortz said. "A lot of people have been complaining," he said in an interview today. No one told the editor of the Times's puzzle blog, either. Or rather, they told him that the variety puzzle was going to be compromised by the downsizing, but not that it would go missing in the second week. #NYTXW nobody told Will Shortz, Times puzzle editor (and NPR puzzle master). The tweet with the responses can be seen below.Ī response from Will Shortz about the entry 2D in today's crossword puzzle. One user called it a "non-apology apology"Īnd another said it's more reason to have a diverse staff.Īnother user, however, said t hey think people are too easily offended Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2. Shortz (born August 26, 1952) is an American puzzle creator and editor and crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times. Responses to the apology on Twitter were mostly critical. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. ![]() (which we clued last April as “Proceed all right,” but which as a solid word is a slur), CHINK (which is benign in the sense as a chink in one’s armor,” etc. The apology continued: “This is an issue that comes up occasionally with entries like GO O.K. "Neither Joel (Fagliano) nor I had ever heard the slur before - and I don't know anyone who would use it," the response from Shortz reads. The rookie puzzle creator is in elite company: USA Today Crossword Editor Erik Agard will also have his puzzle published in the Times the same week. ![]() The clue to 2-Down in Tuesday’s puzzle was “Pitch to the head, informally.” This definition is the first result to appear in Google when searching the term. 1 edition of the crossword, the answer to the clue in the 2-Down slot was "beaner." This is a racial slur used for Mexicans and people of Mexican descent. Will Shortz, the crossword editor for The New York Times, issued an apology after readers brought it to his attention that a racial slur was used in the New Year's Day edition of the crossword puzzle. ![]()
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